Through A Rose-Tinted Gaze
by wildchild17
Summary: Three years have passed since the Heroes of Olympus sent Gaia back to sleep under the earth, but the Fates haven't finished with Percy yet. Gaia has one last shot, one final plan - this time she's going to destroy Camp Half-Blood from the inside out, and there is more than just lives at stake... more info inside, please R&R! WARNING: CHARACTER DEATH
1. Welcome to Camp

**A/N: I haven't been writing fanfiction for a while, but I've got into the Percy Jackson books recently and this kept bugging me until I started writing it :P So here goes, hope you like it :D**

**Warning: This story contains spoilers for Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the Heroes of Olympus, although probably not too much of either. It might not make much sense, though, if you haven't read PJO and some of the characters from HoO are in it. **

**Disclaimer: All rights go to Rick Riordan, only a few characters and the plot are mine.**

**Summary: Three years have passed since the Heroes of Olympus sent Gaia back to sleep under the earth and closed the Doors of Death, but the Fates haven't finished with Percy yet. Gaia has one last plan, one final shot - this time she's going to destroy Camp Half-Blood from the inside out, and there is more than just lives at stake... **

* * *

_"For God so loved the world, _

_he gave his only son,_

_that whoever lives in him_

_shall not die, but have eternal life."_

_John 3:16_

* * *

Ariana opened her eyes slowly and groaned quietly. Someone gave what sounded like a rather forced laugh from next to her.

"That was some entrance, you know."

Ariana sat up slowly and looked round. The speaker was a tall girl with long, wavy blonde hair and serious grey eyes. Her beauty was disconcerting… It seemed effortless, like she hadn't even tried to look good. Ariana immediately felt self-conscious of what a mess she had to be right now.

"I'm Annabeth, by the way," the girl said unsmilingly. It looked like it would take a lot to make her laugh, Ariana thought. "You're Ariana." It wasn't a question.

"I know my own name," Ariana replied curtly, mildly annoyed. This girl was laughing at her.

Annabeth shook her head. "Sorry, that's not what I meant. I just thought your head might be a bit scrambled… Some people need a bit of prompting when they get here, just to get their memories back." She scowled and muttered to herself, "Why do I have to do this? Where's Grover when you need him?"

Ariana wondered what she was talking about but decided it wasn't worth asking. Instead, she looked around at the room they were in. It was sparsely furnished, with just a few beds identical to hers along each wall, but it was clearly a sort of hospital.

"This is the infirmary," Annabeth told her, following her gaze. "Normally there are more beds in here, but we don't get them out unless we need them…" _Need them? Why would you need an infirmary in the first place?_ "Anyway, how much do you remember?"

"Pretty much everything," Ariana answered. "Grover coming and taking me to camp, that taxi with those really weird sisters in it… Oh." Her eyes widened. "_Oh._"

"Yeah." Annabeth nodded grimly. "You nearly destroyed the whole place. Why in Hades did you try to blow that Hydra sky high with raw plastic explosive? Actually, why did you even have explosives in your pockets?"

Ariana shook her head, resisting a smile. "Long story. _Seriously _long story."

"Don't smile. It's not funny; you could have killed us all."

She sighed deeply and contained her amusement. "That wasn't why I was smiling. I was just remembering one time when a friend first showed me how to use that stuff… But it doesn't matter." She could tell that Annabeth didn't see the funny side of it. "How long do I have to stay here?"

The older girl looked relieved at the change of subject. "Just until you've drunk this." She handed Ariana a cup full of a steaming substance that smelled like… she couldn't decide what it was. It smelled like ice cream on the beach and Flick and the park at home and woodsmoke. It tasted even better. Ariana felt a surge of energy rush through her and set all her nerves on fire. She grinned.

"So what is this place?" she asked.

Annabeth cursed in something that sounded suspiciously like Ancient Greek. "Sorry. I forgot to tell you… I'm really bad at this. Usually Grover or another satyr would be telling you all this stuff but they're all busy doing something or other. This is Camp Half-Blood," she continued. "Um, I don't know how to say this, but you're a demigod, a child of the Greek gods—"

"It's okay, Grover told me all that on the way here," Ariana interrupted.

Annabeth blew out her cheeks. "Thank the gods for that. So yeah, Camp Half-Blood is pretty much a safe place for all of us Greek demigods."

"What about Roman demigods?"

Annabeth looked startled. "How did you know about them?"

Ariana shrugged. "I don't know. I think I read it in a book."

"Okay…" The other girl looked uneasy for a moment but hid it quickly. "There's another camp for Roman half-bloods, called Camp Jupiter, but only the Romans get picked up there. Greeks always go here, Romans always go there. Well, apart from… But that doesn't matter."

"What?"

"No, honestly, you don't need to know." Annabeth paused, suddenly looking worried. "Ariana, how old are you?"

"Fifteen," she replied. "Fifteen going on sixteen. Why?"

"Who's your godly parent?"

Ariana looked blank. "No idea. Should I know?"

"No, it's fine. I'm sure it'll be fine." Annabeth looked anything but fine, but she got up and helped Ariana out of bed. "Come on, I'll show you around. I guess you can stay with the Hermes cabin until… until you get claimed." She strode quickly to the doorway and disappeared.

Ariana followed slowly, but as she was about to leave she thought she heard a horrible laugh just behind her. She spun round. There was no one there. The back of her neck prickled dangerously. Ariana shook her head, dismissing it as paranoia. _It's nothing_, she told herself. _What would a monster want with me?_

Annabeth was waiting for her outside what she called 'the Big House'. It was pretty big, Ariana had to admit, but definitely not as big as they came. Together they walked down to the cabins, as Annabeth tried to explain what everything was and answer Ariana's questions.

"Annabeth!" came a yell from behind them. Ariana turned to look but Annabeth kept walking.

"Ignore him."

A boy with wild curly hair and bright dark eyes was running after them, covered in mud and grease. "Annabeth! Oy, Annie!"

At that Annabeth finally spun around, her face dark with annoyance. Ariana felt nervous. "What do you want, Leo?"

The boy, Leo, skidded to a halt in front of them. "Why d'you keep blocking me, Annie?" he asked, sticking his bottom lip out. Ariana felt a smile twitch her lips. She liked this kid; he had a sense of humour.

"Don't call me that!" Annabeth said heatedly.

Leo held up his hands and grinned. "Okay, okay, whatever. I just want to know where Percy is; I can't find him anywhere."

Was it her imagination or did Annabeth glance at her quickly before answering? "He's not here, idiot. He went to Jupiter."

Leo pursed his lips. "When's he back?"

"Tomorrow evening. Why?"

"I need him to give me a hand with something."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "A child of Hephaestus needs _help_? Surely not."

Leo scowled slightly and then shrugged. "It's Percy. I don't need anyone else."

"I guess," she replied, a hint of light in her eyes for the first time.

Leo turned his attention to Ariana and grinned cheekily again. "So who're you?"

"I'm Ariana," she smiled back.

He glanced at Annabeth. "Has Annie here been in a bad mood? Don't blame her; she's always like this when Percy's gone. Makes her like an old worry-wart," he added in a stage whisper that Annabeth could easily hear. She whacked him on the arm.

"Right, get lost, Repair Boy! I've had enough of you today." With a fleeting laugh and a smile at Ariana, Leo was gone, leaving a faint smell of engine oil behind him.

Ariana met Annabeth's eyes curiously, but she glanced away. "Who's Percy?"

The older girl sighed. "My boyfriend."

Ariana frowned. "Where… where is he?"

"At Camp Jupiter."

"Why?"

Annabeth scowled and didn't answer. Ariana gave up.

"So, Leo is a son of Heffy – Heffa—"

"Hephaestus, yes. I'm a daughter of Athena. There are twelve main Olympian gods: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Hephaestus, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Ares and Hermes. But there are loads of minor gods, and they all have cabins too. Some of them are empty because the god or goddess swore never to have children, like Hera and Artemis." They rounded a corner and Annabeth pointed to the first cabin in sight. "That's the Artemis one, over there."

"But there are people in there," Ariana squinted into the distance, trying to see.

"Yeah. That's the Hunters."

"The Hunters?"

"Artemis has a band of loyal followers who have all sworn never to fall in love and they're called the Hunters," Annabeth said in a rush, and then gasped as someone clamped a hand onto her shoulder. "Rachel!"

Ariana turned to see a girl with wild red hair standing next to them grinning cheerfully. "Leo's right, you need to lighten up a bit, Annabeth."

"How did you—"

Rachel laughed. "I'm the Oracle, remember?" She glanced at Ariana and held out a hand. "I'm Rachel. I bear the Oracle of Delphi." _Okay, weird introduction._

Ariana found her voice. "What, you give prophecies and stuff?"

The girl nodded, waggling her eyebrows at Annabeth, who allowed a hint of a smile to curve the corners of her mouth. "Yeah… hold onto the 'and stuff' part." She turned away again. "I need to talk to you."

Annabeth nodded. "Okay. How about after Capture the Flag? Then I can finish showing Ariana around and—"

"Now. I'll be quick, honestly."

Annabeth looked at Ariana and shrugged. "Do you want to go and have a look at the cabins? I'll be right there." It didn't really seem like she had a choice, but Ariana nodded anyway. Annabeth looked grateful. "Thanks. Go meet the Hunters if you want, Thalia will show you where the Hermes cabin is." She turned away and walked a little way off with Rachel, who was looking more anxious by the minute.

Ariana felt a little hurt at being dismissed so quickly. She wandered up towards the cabins. Afterwards, she always told herself that she would never have gone back if she hadn't heard Annabeth say her name, but whatever the reason, the outcome was the same. Ariana spun on her heel and crept back the way they'd come, keeping to the shadows at the edge of the path.

"-be careful," Rachel was saying. She sounded worried.

"But she's just a kid. An anomaly, maybe, but still just a child. You can't—"

"There's something about her, Annabeth. I don't like it. I just have this feeling that maybe she won't be claimed at all… She's different."  
Ariana heard Annabeth sigh. "How so?"

"I don't know. She just has a strange kind of aura about her; like she belongs to everyone and to no one."

Annabeth muttered something that Ariana couldn't catch. She crept closer.

Rachel laughed. "Not like that. Percy's different; you of all people should be able to tell that much."

"Is she evil?"

Ariana winced. It was a very abrupt question and she couldn't quite believe Annabeth had just asked it about _her. _Surely it was obvious that she wasn't evil?

"No. I'm sure of that. But she's dangerous, or – or someone really close to her is…"

Ariana's mind immediately sprang to Flick. Where _was _she? At first she'd thought she must be around camp somewhere, but there had been no sign of her yet. Annabeth and Rachel clearly had no idea she existed, otherwise they would have mentioned her… It didn't make any sense. Flick _had _to be here. Where else could she have gone?

* * *

**A/N: So, there ya go. Hope you like it. Please review cause otherwise I'll have no idea whether or not to carry on and it's really encouraging to know what people think of my writing... Thanks for reading!**


	2. All In A Day

**A/N: Here's the next chapter :) haven't had the best respose ever for this, but i guess there are over 100,000 stories for Percy Jackson - it's quite competitive! Hope you like, plz leave a review :D**

* * *

Thalia ran a hand through her spiky dark hair and grinned, eyes sparkling. "Come on, I'll show you around the cabins. Then you can get kitted up. You are _so _going to love Capture the Flag."

Ariana smiled but couldn't help feeling more than a little confused – Thalia was so drastically different from Annabeth that it was hard to believe they were friends. Annabeth was serious, incredibly beautiful, and the sort of person that Ariana really did not want to get on the wrong side of. Thalia was… Well, Thalia was just Thalia. She was different. Apparently she was a demigod, a daughter of Zeus, and Annabeth had also muttered something incomprehensible about a tree, but Ariana had no idea what that meant. Evidently there was a lot more to Camp Half-Blood than the eye could see.

Ariana followed Thalia as she showed her round the cabins, Annabeth walking silently behind. Trying to seem normal with Rachel's words hanging over her was impossible. _Is she evil? – No, but someone really close to her is… _She was so lost in thought that she didn't even realize they'd arrived at the Hermes cabin until Thalia snapped her fingers in Ariana's face.

"Hey, dreamy," she smiled gently. "We're here. I'll get Connor and Travis to find you a bed and you can shower and get changed here; then I'll find you some armour. Have you got a sword?" Ariana must have looked alarmed because Thalia laughed. "I'll take that as a no. Don't worry; there's loads in the armoury. By the way, how old are you?"

_What is it with people and my age? _"Fifteen, nearly sixteen."

Thalia looked faintly surprised for a moment and then smiled. "Cool. About the same as the Hermes guys, then." Thalia clearly wasn't as worried about Ariana's age as Annabeth and Rachel… Or maybe she was just better at hiding her thoughts.

Ariana stepped inside the cabin and was greeted by a two boys with messy dark hair and identical mischievous grins.

"You must be Ariana," said one of them, the slightly taller one.

"Welcome to our humble domain," said the other, sweeping his arm round in a dramatic gesture. In fact, there was really nothing at all dramatic about the Hermes cabin – it looked like the oldest of them all, with peeling paint and worn wooden floorboards – but Ariana liked it.

"Yeah, that's me," she smiled and then couldn't help a huge yawn escaping. She clamped a hand over her mouth. "Sorry."

Connor and Travis's grins grew broader. "It's fine. I remember my first day – I was shattered," chuckled Connor. He led her over to a bed in the corner. "I guess it was you who nearly blew the place up, huh?"

Ariana sighed and dropped down onto the bed, wondering if that was what everyone would remember her for. "Yes," she said shortly.

"I bet everyone's been saying that, haven't they?" he said, with a laugh. "Don't worry. The rumours'll die down soon enough. I have to say, though, blowing up a Hydra on your first day – even we didn't manage that! Awesome!"

Travis appeared out of nowhere again. "That was because we hadn't found the explosives in the Hephaestus cabin yet."

"I s'pose," Connor nodded. "It's so good that Leo has a sense of humour; he actually _helps _with making things rather than just telling us off… But anyway," he gave Ariana a sheepish smile. "When Percy arrived, the whole place went mad for days… but I guess he's an exception."

Ariana sat up. "Would you mind explaining who this Percy guy is? I mean, I know he's Annabeth's boyfriend, but people keep saying things and I don't really get it…"

Connor grinned mischievously. "I'll tell you a bit, but you won't believe me if you hear it all at once. Percy Jackson is a son of Poseidon – the only human son of Poseidon, as far as we know – and he's nineteen now. He came to camp first when he was twelve and killed a Minotaur on the doorstep. Then when we were playing Capture the Flag, he got totally smashed by Annabeth and we all thought her team would win… but then Percy stepped into the stream and 'cause he's a son of Poseidon, the water gives him power, and he beat Annabeth and won the game."

Ariana raised her eyebrows. "He killed a Minotaur? Is that it?"

"No, that is so not it!"

All three of them turned round to see Thalia leaning casually against the doorframe. Annabeth was standing behind her with her arms crossed and a closed expression on her face.

"Trust me, Ariana," the Hunter continued, "you have not heard _half _of the things Percy Jackson has done. You'll have to ask him tomorrow when he gets back, although he probably won't tell you… He's kind of modest," she said in answer to Ariana's questioning look.

"Yeah, he's _really _modest," agreed Travis enthusiastically. "I mean, imagine Jason – he was always like, 'I'm a Roman and I've done this, this and this and I'm the—"

"Trav, shut up!" Connor interrupted, elbowing his brother in the ribs and glaring at him, jerking his head at Thalia. She had her eyebrows raised and a mildly annoyed expression on her face.

"I'll thank you _not _to insult my brother, considering he'd lost most of his memories when you met him and he's a Hero of Olympus. You didn't even know he was a Roman at first!"

"We so did!" Connor and Travis said in unison. "He's got that tattoo on his arm, that SPQR thingy and those stripes, like Percy has. That's a Roman thing!"

"_Senatus Populusque Romanus,_" Ariana said quietly. They all stared at her, including Annabeth, who was looking more upset by the minute as the conversation went on. Ariana briefly wondered why. "What?" she said. "It means _Senate and People of Rome_. You knew that, right?"

"Yes, of course we knew," Thalia nodded, eyes narrowed slightly. "But how did _you_ know?"

Ariana shrugged. "I took Latin at school."

Thalia still looked suspicious, but she shrugged. "Okay, if you say so. Anyway, sorry to bother you but would you mind hurrying up a bit? It's just, we need to go see Chiron before activities finish and you haven't got any armour or a sword yet."

Ariana nodded quickly. "Sure. Who's Chiron? Where shall I meet you?"

"You'll see. Meet us outside the Big House. Connor and Travis can show you where it is if you can't remember." Thalia frowned at them sternly. "Behave, you two. It's her first day; she doesn't want any practical jokes."

They nodded meekly. Obviously Thalia was another one who shouldn't be crossed.

* * *

Ariana stood with her hair dripping onto her shoulders, staring at the mirror. It was strange, she thought, that even after everything that had happened in the past few weeks, she still looked exactly the same. Solemn brown eyes stared back at her thoughtfully, framed by her normally frizzy hair that hung down over her shoulders. The same pale skin with a few freckles coming out across her nose from the sun. You couldn't tell by looking at her that her world had been turned upside down – she had found out she was a demigod, a child of the Greek gods from about four thousand years ago; she had met Grover and travelled in the Grey Ladies taxi; she had had to fight her way to Camp Half-Blood and had lost her twin in the process… Something inside warned Ariana not to mention Flick, at least not yet. Every instinct was screaming at her to find out whether her sister was okay, but she knew, with that uncanny feeling that twins sometimes get, that Flick was alright, wherever she was. Ariana just hoped she would turn up soon. Grover was the only one who had known about her sister, and he obviously hadn't told anyone. She wondered why.

Sighing heavily, she began to brush her hair through and then jumped as Connor banged on the door, yelling that if they didn't leave now, it would be midnight before they actually managed to see Chiron. She couldn't help wondering if that was actually true, but even if it wasn't, she knew she had to hurry up. With a last look at the mirror and a sigh, Ariana opened the door and followed the two brothers out.

* * *

"So, welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Ariana Korikis," Chiron said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. There was something decidedly off about this place, Ariana decided. It was as if everyone was trying to be happy but something was stopping them – they couldn't for some reason, like something was missing. Little did she know that she was thinking the exact same things as Chiron, although he knew the reason, and she didn't.

Once Ariana'd got over the whole Oh-my-gods-he's-a-centaur thing, she actually quite liked Chiron. He was kind and helpful and definitely explained everything a lot better than Annabeth had. He'd helped her find a sword and given her some armour to wear, and assured her that people 'hardly ever' got seriously injured in Capture the Flag. She hadn't found that part particularly encouraging. But despite Chiron's smiles and laughter, she could still see that there was something wrong. It wasn't that it was obvious; he hid it very well, in fact, but she could often sense people's feelings. Chiron was anxious about something; something that had been bothering him for a while. And Ariana wanted to know what it was.

But she knew better than to ask. She'd learnt that particular lesson a long time ago: there was no point asking people questions about things they didn't want to talk about and you weren't supposed to know. She had a feeling it was something to do with this guy Percy Jackson, but – she stopped that thought right there. _It's none of your business,_ she told herself. _You'll work it out soon enough. _

"Thanks," she smiled up at him. "So, what time's Capture the Flag?"

The centaur glanced out of the window. "About now. Come on. I'll show you to the training field – that's where it all starts. Annabeth'll have you on her team, I'm sure."

* * *

Two hours later, Ariana was bruised, sweaty and panting, but had thoroughly enjoyed herself. Capture the Flag was incredibly competitive. No one had been even the slightest bit more lenient because she was new, which she was immensely glad of, and she had discovered that she was actually quite good with a sword already. Apparently her ADHD was down to her highly sensitive battle reflexes, which had saved her from being seriously mauled several times already that evening. As Chiron had said, Annabeth had let her join the cabins on her team, and they had won with ease. Although she knew it was nothing to do with her input that had helped them capture the red flag, she couldn't help but feel a little proud.

Now, the Hermes cabin was bustling with people. Ariana had already met a girl called Louisa who had the bed next to hers, a boy across the room named Charlie who seemed just as mischievous as the Stoll brothers, Connor and Travis, and a little girl who was the youngest in the cabin and who couldn't seem to decide _what _her name was. According to Louisa, it was Madeleine, but so far Ariana'd heard her called Mags, Maddy, Leiny and even Socks. Where the last one came from she had no idea.

At dinner she sat with Louisa, who showed her how to give an offering to the gods. At first she thought it was kind of weird – surely over one hundred kids scraping bits of food in a fire was bound to go wrong – but the delicious aromas filling the room dispelled all her doubts. Still weird, but it was easy to imagine the gods liking the smell. As she dropped a bit of her pizza in the flames and begged whoever her parent was to claim her so she wouldn't feel like such an anomaly, she desperately hoped that something would happen… but no. She looked up and saw Chiron sitting up on the table with the other instructors and staff, watching her. Before he quickly looked away she thought she saw a hint of worry and something else – was it fear? - in his eyes. She didn't know.

Later, everyone seemed to be drifting out of the mess hall, down into the woods. Louisa grinned when Ariana asked where everyone was going and told her to wait and see, like it was all some big secret or something. As it turned out, they were going to the campfire, which was probably the craziest and strangest part of the whole day, and _that _was saying something.

The campfire was pretty exciting in itself, Ariana thought. Every cabin turned up and it was the first time she'd seen all the other campers properly. It was easy to tell who belonged to which cabin: the children of Aphrodite were sitting looking perfectly gorgeous and were all either giggling conspirationally or kissing someone; the Hephaestus cabin were covered in grease and muck and most of them were fiddling with some kind of contraption in their hands (she spotted Leo, who winked at her and was the dirtiest of the lot); and the others were all just as obvious. Athena's children – all clever-looking but none of them as serious as Annabeth, which came as a surprise; the Hunters of Artemis – wary and beautiful with silvery bows over their shoulders, the Ares cabin… Well. They were probably the scariest of the lot. All of them were heavily built and gave anyone who even looked their way a horrible stare. Ariana accidentally caught the eye of a massive girl sitting right at the front of her cabin, who glared at her so ferociously that Ariana quickly looked at her shoes and felt like falling into a great big hole in the ground. Next to her, Louisa giggled.

"That's Clarisse," she whispered. "You don't want to cross her. She's the leader of the Ares cabin and she'll pick a fight with anyone. Even Percy…" She trailed off and looked faintly guilty, as though she'd chosen a forbidden subject.

Ariana was beginning to get annoyed with everyone refusing to talk about this Percy guy. "Even Percy what?" she prompted.

Louisa sighed. "No one likes to talk about him when he's not here, so many bad things have happened," she explained.

Ariana couldn't resist a smile. "You're worried about 'tempting fate'? That's it?"

Louisa was not laughing. "For us, it's real," she said seriously. "Destiny changes around us, Ariana. We're demigods, not just ordinary humans. We have that effect on the world."

Somehow, Ariana believed her. There was no lie in her new friend's face. Not that it really made her feel much better.

Around them, the campers began to sing. They were old traditional campfire songs, horribly out of tune, but for some reason, it made Ariana feel like she had a real family for the first time in her life. She smiled and looked around at the other members of the Hermes cabin, then at everyone else. Everything was buzzing with a sense of togetherness and friendship – even Clarisse was grudgingly singing along. The magical flames of the campfire were glowing huge and tall. Ariana had a strange, unfamiliar feeling inside of her, and she knew, with comforting certainty, that this was what it felt like to belong.

And then it all went wrong.

Rachel, who was sitting next to Thalia on the far side of the fire, suddenly doubled over coughing. The singing died away and a few people leaned forwards expectantly. At first, Ariana thought she was imagining things, but it looked to her like the red-headed girl was spewing green smoke everywhere. She looked up and Ariana jumped in shock - Rachel's eyes were glowing a horrible, inhuman green. Glancing around, Ariana began to realize that this wasn't something so unusual. Rachel's words from that morning flashed in her head:

"_I bear the Oracle of Delphi."_

"_What, you give prophecies and stuff?"_

_The girl nodded, waggling her eyebrows at Annabeth. "Yeah… hold on to the 'and stuff' part."_

So this was what the Oracle-bearing redhead had meant. And did that mean that now –

Rachel rose smoothly to her feet, staring around imperiously at all of them. Everyone seemed to be waiting with baited breath.

"_Children of the Dioscuri mark,_

_One to take the bait and break the heart,_

_Mother of Earth, when all is done,_

_Shall tear apart what love has won._

_Friend on foe and foe on friend,_

_With anger that no god could mend,_

_The rift to heal with final breath,_

_Ended by broken-hearted death."_

The horrible green light vanished and Rachel gasped. Thalia ran forward to catch her just in time before she hit the floor. A low murmur of anxious chatter filled the campfire circle.

Ariana turned to Louisa. "I'm guessing that was a prophecy?"

"Yeah," Louisa sighed nervously. "They're always like that; really cryptic until afterwards when you can see exactly what it means. But…" She looked scared. "Only the important ones ever mention anyone dying."

Ariana tried to shake off the feeling of dread that was settling in her stomach. "Who's the Mother of Earth?"

Louisa's face was pale in the firelight. "Gaia," she whispered. "Annabeth and Percy – we thought that they'd beaten her, sent her back to sleep three years ago, but…"

"And the Dioscuri mark?" Ariana tried to keep her voice steady, but it wasn't really working.

"It means the twins, Castor and Pollux. I think they're called the Gemini twins in Rome. But it's strange, the way it said 'children', not half bloods or demigods."

Ariana's felt her face drain of all colour. That lovely feeling of belonging had long since vanished. "Yeah, strange," she managed to force out.

That was when Chiron stood up and started telling them all to go to bed, but Ariana barely heard him. Her head was spinning sickeningly. Hardly knowing what she was doing, she got changed and into bed, trying to block out the whispering that went on long after lights out. When she finally got to sleep, everyone else had fallen quiet.

Her dreams were filled with horrible images of twins and people dying; a terrible face in the ground that whispered, "Your sister is mine, little girl, mine and they'll hate you for it…"; and maniacal laughter following her no matter how fast she ran away… And finally there was Flick, standing alone in the middle of a park and staring up into the night sky. "Please be okay, Ariana," she whispered, and Ariana tried to call out to her, but she couldn't make any sound, because it was a dream.

* * *

**A/N: Review?**


	3. Meet the Heroes

**A/N: I think I actually got what I said about Percy Jackson having over 100,000 stories wrong, there's less than that I think - but still, there's a fair few :P Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, favourited or followed this story - it means a lot to me!**

**On with the fic!**

* * *

The next day passed in a blur for Ariana. She couldn't get the prophecy and the idea about the twins out of her head. All around her, she saw the others going about their daily business; training; tidying their cabins; having fun. A few people were a little subdued, but none so badly affected as Ariana. Louisa saw how troubled she was, but she thought it was just seeing Rachel spitting green smoke that had unsettled her.

"It's okay," she said comfortingly. "I know how you feel; we all do. It's okay to be a bit scared at first."

_If only I could explain _what _I'm afraid of,_ Ariana had thought to herself. _But if I did, you'd hate me. _She remembered what the creepy woman in her dream had said to her and shuddered.

Training was hard, but not nearly as bad as Ariana had expected. It probably would have helped if she was concentrating, but even so she could tell she had a natural talent for sword fighting. It just felt like she'd been born to do it. Archery wasn't too bad either, but the climbing wall was a nightmare – literally. When she first saw it, Ariana couldn't believe they were actually pouring lava on people's heads. It was ridiculous. Not to mention the little fact that she was scared of heights. It was horrible, trying to climb as fast as she could without basically being _killed_, and all for the sake of training.

Louisa stuck with her for most of the day, only leaving briefly when she had to go and do the laundry duty. When Ariana asked why, she'd laughed and said it was a punishment, but she didn't say what for. As they walked back towards the cabins together, they saw a huge crowd of people up ahead outside the Big House.

"What's going on?" Ariana wondered aloud, but Louisa looked just as puzzled as she did.

"No idea."

They hurried forwards, trying to see what was happening at the centre of the crowd. Standing on her tiptoes Ariana could just see a huge black horse, with – with _wings_. Everyone was laughing and chatting, and she could feel that most people were happier than they had been for a while. She wondered what had happened to make such a change.

Suddenly a gap appeared in the crowds and she dived through. Ariana found herself standing right at the front, with Louisa nowhere to be seen. She looked around sheepishly and saw that Leo was next to her. He grinned.

Then she looked at the person everyone was making such a fuss about. Her heart did a somersault. He had his back to her, petting his horse, but even like that she could tell he was gorgeous. He had dark hair that was a bit long and straggly and he was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. He was tall and tanned and his bare arms were corded with muscle – that sort of rugged, dangerous look that made Ariana think he was the sort of person you might cross the street to avoid on a dark night. One arm bore a tattoo of the letters SPQR and three stripes, as well as some others symbols she couldn't see.

"Who is _that_?" she asked Leo, although she had a feeling she already knew.

Unfortunately, the boy in the middle heard her. He turned and smiled; his deep, sea green eyes fixed on her.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Percy Jackson."

* * *

It wasn't until she'd been standing staring at Percy with her mouth slightly open for a few moments that Ariana realized there were another boy and girl standing next to Percy.

The boy was about the same height as Percy, blonde with startling blue eyes and a slightly resentful expression on his face. Ariana could feel the same aura of power around him as Percy, but not nearly as strong. The girl next to him had her arm laid gently on his arm, as though to restrain him, and they were both wearing purple t-shirts.

"Oh," Percy said after a second or two, turning with an apologetic grin at the other two. "This is Jason Grace and Piper McLean. They're from Camp Jupiter. I guess you're, um, An – Anita? No, that's not it – "

"Ariana," she said, giving him a coy smile. "Ariana Korikis. I'm new." She looked briefly at the others.

Jason nodded tensely. "Hi."

Piper whispered something in his ear and he relaxed slightly. She pushed her hair out of her face and gave Ariana a small smile. "Nice to meet you, Ariana." She was very beautiful, Ariana realized. Despite the scruffy clothes she was wearing, she looked like a model – perfect figure, perfect skin, gorgeous chocolate brown hair that looked perfectly styled.

Something clicked in her head. This was a daughter of Aphrodite, and by the look of her, she was pretty much the goddess' favourite child. And she seemed kind of familiar… Ariana looked at Percy. "Um, did you say McLean? As in, Tristan McLean?"

Piper glared at Percy, who nodded sheepishly. "Yeah… that's Piper's dad."

"Hey, Repair Boy," Jason interrupted, grinning at the boy standing next to Ariana.

Leo scowled playfully and punched Jason on the arm by way of greeting. "Good to see you, Jase." _What is it with guys and hitting each other?_ Ariana rolled her eyes inwardly. "Piper." He gave Piper a quick hug and Ariana couldn't help wishing she knew the history between all of these people. Clearly, they had shared some kind of adventure together, probably including Annabeth too, she guessed. As though she'd heard her thoughts, Annabeth herself appeared just at that moment. The crowd fell quiet and slowly drew apart to open up a path towards Percy.

Annabeth wasn't really concentrating. She had a sheaf of blueprints in her hands and she was making notes on them as she walked. Percy was smiling slightly, obviously loving the fact that his girlfriend hadn't even realized he was back. She walked halfway through the crowd before looking up as a quiet giggle broke through the air. Her eyes saw only Percy. A slow, delighted smile spread across her face as she walked towards him and her grey eyes lit up with joy and relief. Ariana had never seen anyone look so happy; much less _Annabeth_ – stern, serious, scary Annabeth. But she was seeing it, so it had to be true. The daughter of Athena threw herself into Percy's arms and kissed him enthusiastically, whispering something in his ear that made his smile grow broader and him lean in to kiss her again. A collective _aah_ went through the crowd. Connor and Travis Stoll wolf-whistled.

Ariana felt a twinge of jealousy. Why did Annabeth get to have Percy? It wasn't fair. She suddenly realised that there were identical expressions of envy and annoyance on the faces of most of the Aphrodite girls, bar Piper, and mentally kicked herself. She should just be glad that Annabeth and Percy were so happy together. _Don't be so mean_, she thought. But she knew that no matter how hard she tried to get rid of them, those feelings would always be there.

People were starting to drift away again now, chatting and laughing. Obviously everyone was used to the newly reunited couple being so affectionate in public, but Ariana couldn't imagine acting like that around anyone. It would be so awkward; embarrassing. Shaking herself back to the present, she wandered over to Piper, Leo and Jason, who were quietly talking together.

"Hi," Ariana said shyly.

Leo grinned at her. "Now you see what I meant about Annabeth, huh? She's always really mopey whenever Percy's away. I don't really get it. I mean, it's not like he was _dead _or anything; he was just—"

"And I suppose you'd know how it feels to have your boyfriend go missing for eight months, would you, Repair Boy?" Piper interrupted. Her words were said laughingly, but there was an underlying note of seriousness in her voice.

Ariana's mouth fell open. That seemed to be happening a lot lately, she thought dryly. "_Eight months_?"

Jason rolled his eyes and Piper punched him in the arm before answering. "Yeah. Same goes for Jason here – " she elbowed him sharply and he grinned, " – and it was all down to our favourite goddess, Hera." Thunder boomed overhead and they all looked up nervously. "She swapped Jason and Percy; put them in different camps, I mean; and she took all their memories."

"But why?"

Jason sighed. "Because the gods made sure that Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood never knew the other existed. When they did know about each other they had an unfortunate tendency to start civil wars."

Ariana frowned. "Why do you say 'they'? That's us, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't happen any more. The Heroes of Olympus sorted it all out; destroyed the giants; sent Gaia back to sleep."

Something Thalia had said yesterday flashed into Ariana's head. "But – _you're _a Hero of Olympus, aren't you?"

Jason gave a rather smug smile and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, yes."

"So are Piper and me," Leo interrupted. "And Hazel and Frank and Annabeth and Percy… The way Jase says it you'd think he defeated Gaia all by himself."

Jason scowled and then winked at Ariana. "I did most of it," he said. _Connor and Travis were right,_ she thought, _you really are anything but modest._ But on the outside she smiled back.

"Awesome," she said, then glanced over at Percy and Annabeth, who were still enclosed in their own private little world.

Leo saw her look and laughed. "Oy, Perce!" he yelled. Annabeth visibly jumped and immediately blushed crimson as she came up for air and realised that all four of them were watching. Percy just grinned, slung an arm round his girlfriend's shoulders, and wandered over.

"Hey." He raised his eyebrows at them and Ariana felt her stomach do a back flip as his eyes rested on her. _Stop it._ "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Ariana. Sorry I didn't talk to you properly before; I was a little, er…" he glanced down at Annabeth and chuckled, "distracted, shall we say. Anyway, who's your parent?" Percy looked her up and down critically and frowned. "Aphrodite? Demeter?"

_Wow. He thinks I could be a child of Aphrodite! _"No, I – I don't actually know who I'm a child of…" She flushed, embarrassed, and looked at the ground.

Percy turned to Annabeth, his eyes suddenly like chips of green ice. "She hasn't been claimed?"

She shook her head. "No. But—"

"Why didn't you _tell_ me? Where's Chiron?"

Annabeth scowled. "Because, Seaweed Brain, as you would know if you'd let me finish my sentence, there was a prophecy last night. There are more things to tell you than just Ariana's case. And Chiron will be waiting to talk to you – he had to clear up the training field first, otherwise he'd be here already."

Percy seemed to deflate slightly and Ariana couldn't help feeling a surge of admiration for Annabeth that she had no trouble telling her boyfriend exactly what she thought of him. "Fine, tell me the prophecy and then we'll go."

She sighed. "_Children of the Dioscuri mark, one to take the bait and break the heart, Mother of Earth, when all is done, shall tear apart what love has won. Friend on foe and foe on friend, with anger that no god could mend, the rift to heal with final breath, ended by broken-hearted death._"

Percy whistled through his teeth and Ariana noticed that he had visibly paled under his tan. "Mother of Earth? But – Gaia's gone. We got rid of her, right?" Ariana was surprised that he sounded so nervous – Jason would have tried to hide his fear, she was sure, but Percy just admitted it and carried on anyway.

"No, we sent her back to sleep," Annabeth told him, with the air of informing a four year old that two plus two equals four.

"What's the Dioscuri mark?" Jason asked. Ariana jumped; she's been so focused on Percy that she'd almost forgotten the others were there. The action didn't go unmissed by Annabeth, who rolled her eyes.

"It means the Gemini twins," Percy said. "Romulus and Remus. We call them Castor and Pollux." He paused. "So the Dioscuri mark just means twins, I guess, although I've never heard it like that before."

"Me neither," frowned Piper. She looked worried. "And what was that bit at the end – about someone dying…"

They fell silent, nobody wanting to say what they were all thinking. Eventually Percy broke the quiet, attempting a half-hearted grin.

"Well, one thing's for sure," he said. "It looks like I'll be leaving again pretty soon. You'll be coming with me, Ariana." The fire was back in his eyes and Ariana felt a shiver run through her body. It was no use telling herself to stop it, she realised – it was going to take a lot more than mere willpower for her to get over Percy Jackson.

"What? Where are we going?" she asked.

Percy gave her a crooked smile. "We're going to Olympus."

* * *

**A/N: Hope you liked it, next chapter up as soon as I finish chapter 5 :D Please review, I'd love to know what you think!**


	4. Bad Dreams and Unexpected Surprises

**A/N: Sorry for the wait, also this is beta read only by me so sorry for any mistakes. On with the fic!**

* * *

_"__Percy, let me go," she croaked. "You can't pull me up."_

_"Never!" he said, even though his wrist was already burning from the effort of holding Annabeth's weight. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes, hair full of cobwebs, and he thought she'd never looked more beautiful._

"_You have to," she whispered. "Let go, Percy – I can't – I won't—"_

"_Together," he breathed, and her eyes lit up. _

_Nico was trying to reach them, but it was too far. It was always going to be too far. _

"_Nico!" Percy shouted. The son of Hades stared at him, eyes full of fear and horror. "We'll meet you at the other side, at the Doors of Death. You have to guide the others through, Nico – bring them through the House of Hades, me and Annabeth'll-"_

"_Percy, you can't! You don't understand what it's like—"_

"_Promise me!"_

_Nico fell silent, his eyes huge and terrified. Percy could see that whatever he had been through in Tartarus had really scared him; had almost driven his mad with fear. _

"_Lead them there. Promise me, Nico." It was too much effort; he couldn't hold on much longer._

"_I promise," Nico finally said, sounding as though the words were torn from him against his will. Percy nodded, satisfied, and looked down again to meet Annabeth's eyes. His fingers were slipping off the tiny cliff edge. _

"_This isn't for you, Percy," she whispered, and he felt as though the pain of her words was crushing him. "You're meant to live, I know it. You are destined to be great – you already are." He shook his head, the words stopping in his throat. The tears in Annabeth's beautiful grey eyes overflowed onto her cheeks. _

"_I love you, Percy," she breathed. _

_And then she fell._

"Percy." Someone was shaking him. "Percy, wake up." He knew that voice. Annabeth. His eyes flew open and he bolted upright in bed.

Annabeth was sitting on the edge of his bed in the Poseidon cabin, her grey eyes anxious. "You were having a nightmare," she said.

Percy rubbed his face self-consciously, trying to hide the tears. He still felt shaken by the dream – it had been so sharp, so real… He had let her go. He had let Annabeth fall. _It didn't really happen_, he reminded himself. _You both fell, you both got out. _

He forced a smile when he realized that Annabeth was still watching him. "Want to talk about it?" she asked.

Percy let out a shaky breath. "I – it was when we were…" he swallowed, still unable to believe he had let Annabeth fall. "It was when we were in Ariadne's lair, rescuing the Athena Parthenon. When we fell." He looked up and saw a flash of fear in her eyes. "But I – I let you go." He swallowed again, a bitter taste in his mouth. "In the dream, I let you fall. I – you said I was meant to live – that I was destined to be—" He broke off, unable to say any more.

Annabeth was silent, obviously wondering what to say. "It was just a dream, Percy," she told him at last, squeezing his hand gently. "I – I can't pretend I didn't think of saying those things. But I didn't. We fell together. We made it out together."

Percy met her gaze, and this time his voice was strong. "I would never, _never _let you go, Annabeth," he said simply, and she smiled.

* * *

"Six hundredth floor, please," Percy said. Ariana resisted a smile, still loving the fact that Olympus was on top of the _Empire State Building_, of all places.

The guy behind the desk didn't even raise his eyes from the newspaper he was reading. "That floor don't exist, kid. Get outta here."

Percy cleared his throat and the man looked up, obviously annoyed. He looked Percy up and down for a second before jumping to his feet, expression suddenly anxious.

"Ah – Mr Jackson - I didn't realise—" he stammered.

Percy smiled, his eyes warm. "It's fine, Alex. And please don't call me Mr Jackson; I'm not a teacher."

Alex attempted a nervous smile. "Yes, Mr – I mean, Percy… You, um, know where to go?"

It was like thought Percy was something of a celebrity, Ariana thought, and then realised she'd reacted exactly the same way when she'd first met Percy. He seemed to have that kind of effect on people, although she was almost certain he had no idea.

"Yeah." Percy was nodding. He turned to Ariana and grinned as he led the way into the lift. "It's good to be here _without _it being in the middle of a war, y'know. It's really… peaceful."

Ariana laughed. "You act as if it's an everyday occurrence to be at war!"

A shadow seemed to cross his face and she realised that might have been an insensitive comment. "Unfortunately, in my life, it is." He looked away and fiddled with the hem of his orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. Unlike Ariana's new, clean one, Percy's was ripped, torn and stained with all sorts of things, some of which looked horribly like blood. She could see the clumsy stitching that had been done to repair it.

"Look," Ariana said at last, "I know you don't want to talk about it, and I can see that it's hard for you, but please will you tell me about all these wars and quests and stuff? I just – none of it makes sense. People keep saying stuff and I have no idea what they're on about."

Percy smiled, but it looked a little forced. That shadow was still in his eyes. "Yeah, I guess." The lift _pinged _quietly and the doors opened. "I'll tell you on the way back, okay? Right now, we need to get you sorted."

Ariana nodded, but she wasn't really listening. All thoughts of Percy's accomplishments and past wars had vanished from her mind, blown away by the majesty of Olympus. The city spread out below them like a vast, glowing jewel of colours and life. It was indescribable. Ariana thought she could see mythical creatures she had never dreamed existed wandering throughout the city; houses and temples of gods and goddesses towered up into the sky, showing architecture that would have been impossible if she hadn't known that everything here _ought _to be impossible. It was like paradise.

Beside her, Percy chuckled. "Brilliant, isn't it? I don't know how Annabeth does it."

Snapping out of her reverie, Ariana frowned. "What? _Annabeth _built this?"

"Yeah. After the Titan War a couple of years ago, she got made the official architect of Olympus and rebuilt everything 'cause it all got a bit smashed up in the fighting." His tone was nonchalant but Ariana sensed there was a lot more to that story than he was letting on. "But anyway, come on. Don't you want to come and meet the gods?"

As they walked up to the throne room, Ariana felt something change around her. It wasn't obvious at all, more like a breath of wind or the sun in her eyes or something, but she noticed it all the same. She looked around, puzzled, wondering what was different. Frowning slightly, her eyes fell on Percy, walking quietly beside her. His sea green eyes had gone all dark and angry again and her heart beat faster in excitement, much to her annoyance. He really was gorgeous, though, she consoled herself – _anyone _would react this way, surely.

It wasn't until they reached the huge golden doors that Ariana realised that it was Percy himself who had changed. Something was different about him. He looked taller, more powerful – and the anger in his eyes stirred fear in her heart like she had never felt before. She saw for the first time that Percy could quite easily kill her if he wanted to, and she understood why everyone seemed to act like he was famous or something. The aura of power she had felt around him when they first met had grown into something incredibly powerful and almost not-quite-human.

"Ariana, will you do something for me?" Percy said quietly, breaking into her thoughts.

_Anything_, she almost said, but stopped herself just in time. "Okay."

"When we go in, let me do the talking. I'm sorry, but you don't understand enough of why we're here to get the gods to listen to you." He sounded genuinely apologetic.

"They broke an oath, right? By not claiming me."

His eyes tightened. "Yeah. They swore upon the River Styx – that's a river in the Underworld – that they would claim every one of their children on or before their thirteenth birthday. Piper and Leo were late as well, like you, but they got claimed within a day of being at camp…"

She nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

Percy turned and pushed open the doors with such force that they bounced back off the marble walls inside. The sight that greeted Ariana was nothing like what she'd expected.

Twelve huge thrones were arranged in a U-shape across the room, which towered above them like a cathedral – a really, _really _big cathedral. Unlike the most of the other buildings, the throne room was mainly built of white marble, with wide sweeping columns and intricate designs on the walls. Obviously Annabeth had been at work in here too.

But the gods themselves were what really startled Ariana. For one thing, nobody had bothered to mention that they were all about twelve foot tall. And their power was so strong it seemed to make the air in the room shimmer and pulsate with energy. It was easy enough to tell the gods and goddesses apart, just like their children at camp: Hades, dark-haired and pale; Aphrodite, impossibly beautiful; Zeus, sitting on the largest throne of them all. He stared down at Percy with an expression of distaste, completely ignoring Ariana.

"Percy Jackson." His voice was cold.

Percy strode forwards and nodded to the gods and goddesses, evidently completely unfazed by the fact that he was standing in the middle of a group of immortal beings who could kill him with about as much effort as blinking an eye. "Lord Zeus. Father." He looked up at Poseidon without so much as a smile and Ariana jumped as she realised that this was Percy's _dad. _The greeting was about as friendly as a student talking to his least favourite teacher.

"Welcome, my son." The sea god's smile was a little uncertain, as though he wondered why Percy was being so unfriendly.

Percy looked back up at Zeus and then around at the others, many of who avoided his eyes, their faces varying from anxious to guilty. "You know why I am here. Why have you not claimed your child, Ariana Korikis?" Ariana couldn't believe he dared to speak to the King of the Gods like that. Didn't he realize that he was probably about to be zapped out of existence?

Zeus sighed, lazily flicking his dark grey hair out of his face. "Percy Jackson, you have no right to be here. You cannot just _walk in _to Olympus and demand to speak with us. You should at least have followed protocol and—"

If possible, Percy's expression darkened even further. "Do not make me play games, _Uncle_. She is fifteen years old and she is unclaimed."

Poseidon looked as if he was going to interrupt but one glare from Zeus stopped him. "Boy, you are arrogant and insolent. You understand too little—"

"_Boy_?" Percy growled, and Ariana saw with a shiver of fear that Zeus had crossed some invisible line. "_Boy? _I'm not a child, Zeus. I may have refused your offer three years ago, but that does not mean you didn't give me power beyond that of any other mortal." His voice swelled with anger and even Zeus began to look a little uncomfortable. "I am not a god, and you can't order me around. Three years ago you gave me something that is worth far more than becoming one of you." This time Ariana couldn't stop her mouth falling open. _Zeus was going to make Percy a _god_? _"You swore a sacred oath upon the River Styx to claim your children before or on their thirteenth birthday. You have broken that oath. I hold you to the consequences."

"Percy, listen to me," Poseidon said quickly. "You could destroy us—"

"I know exactly what I'm doing," Percy replied. His voice was quieter now, but no less angry, and no less powerful. "I'm sorry, Dad, but you promised. You can't possible understand what it's like to be unclaimed; to know one of your parents doesn't care enough to say that you belong to them. Ariana is standing right here." The accusation in his voice was unmistakable and Ariana's cheeks flooded with colour as twelve godly gazes rested on her for a moment. "I'll say it again," Percy continued, his tone dangerously quiet. "_I hold you to your oath_."

The throne room fell silent. Zeus and Poseidon were staring at each other intently, clearly having some kind of silent argument. Ares was glowering at everyone, as usual, and Aphrodite was watching Percy with a sympathetic smile on her face. Ariana doubted she'd actually been following the conversation.

At last, the goddess sitting on the right of Hera rose smoothly to her feet. Her long black hair swept dramatically over her shoulders and down her back and her steely grey eyes, oddly familiar to Ariana, bored into Percy. "If I may, I believe I have the answer," she said.

Percy bowed his head, expression suddenly wary. "Lady Athena." _Of course. Annabeth._

"Percy Jackson, despite what you may think, the oath has not been broken. Our honour remains intact," Athena spoke clearly, her voice ringing out. Zeus looked mildly surprised. Percy's face darkened again but he didn't say anything, waiting for the goddess to continue. Obviously he knew which gods were safe (or saf_er_) to interrupt – and Athena wasn't one of them.

Hera sighed, sweeping her hair over her shoulder. "Ah, yes. I see it now. The bonds are clear to me."

"The bonds?" Percy asked.

"The bonds of family; of blood and allegiance. I am the goddess of family, Percy, even as Juno. I understand these things." It was clear how the end of the sentence went: _and you don't._

"You didn't seem too worried about the bonds of family when you took my memories."

Hera rolled her eyes, a pretty dramatic gesture considering she was twelve foot tall. "Oh, stop going on about that. It was necessary."

"You completely messed up my—"

"Thank you, Percy Jackson," Athena interrupted icily. "Ariana Korikis has not been claimed because she is not one of our children."

Percy looked startled, then annoyed. "She is! She's a demigod, believe me. She's had ambrosia and nectar – if she wasn't a half-blood she'd be dead." Ariana didn't really like the sound of that, but she forced herself to remain quiet.

"What do you know of _legacies_, Percy Jackson?" Athena asked. She obviously preferred using Percy's full name.

A look of dawning comprehension was on his face. "Oh… You mean – like the Amazons…"

"Yes."

"But surely, she still belongs to one of you? Like Frank."

"Frank Zhang is the most similar to this case, but even he is the child of Mars. No, Ariana is something that has never been seen before. Her blood is shared—"

"I am here, you know!" Ariana burst out, fed up of being spoken about as if she wasn't there at all. Immediately, she flushed, expecting a reprimand, but Athena turned to her with a glitter of – was that _amusement_? – in her eyes.

"Indeed you are here, Ariana. As I was saying, your blood is shared by all of us, equally. You are something that has never appeared before. In you are both our Greek and Roman forms, and you belong to all of us. That is why you have not been claimed."

Ariana didn't know what to say. She'd hoped that by coming here, she would no longer be an outsider, but all she'd found out was that she was even more of an odd one out than she'd thought.

"And this has never happened before?" frowned Percy.

"Never, Percy Jackson. Ariana Korikis is descended from a long line of demigods, with both our Roman and Greek counterparts. Usually, even in _legacies, _one god or goddess comes out on top and that is who claims the demigod. But Ariana is different. Do you need me to keep repeating the same facts?"

Percy ignored her scathing tone and looked up at her, turning so Ariana couldn't see his face properly. "Even yours, my Lady?" he asked, his voice quiet and genuinely respectful.

Even so, a flash of pure fury crossed the goddess's face and her form seemed to flicker slightly for a second, changing from her elegant white dress and Greek weapons to jeans and hiking boots. She glared at Percy so ferociously that Ariana took an involuntary step back, but he stood his ground. "No, Percy Jackson. I am a maiden goddess; this you know," she said. "The Romans took my heart from me. I will never forgive them for that."

_What?_ Ariana thought, but Percy clearly knew what she was on about. "Your Parthenon was returned, Lady Athena," he reminded her gently. "You need to make your peace, just as we demigods have."

Athena raised her eyebrows, clearly taking no notice of that comment, but Ariana was impressed that Percy had tried. It had to take some guts to talk back to an angry goddess who just happened to be your girlfriend's mum like he had.

She smiled uncertainly at Percy, who was staring into the distance. "So… now what?"

"Your audience is over," Zeus boomed as Athena returned to her throne. Lightning flickered in the sky. "Get out of here, demigods. I am no longer in such a passive mood."

Despite the thinly veiled threat, Percy just smiled faintly and nodded to his father, before turning on his heel and walking away. Just as they were about to leave, a voice that had not yet spoken called them back.

"Do looked after Annabeth, won't you, Percy!" giggled Aphrodite. "I have a feeling you two are going to have a lovely bumpy ride soon – so exciting! But, I'll give you a teensy clue…" She leaned forward and smiled conspirationally. "This time it'll make or break you, darling. Oh, I love all this drama so much! It's going to be great!"

Her peals of laughter followed them all the way out of the throne room.

* * *

One look at Percy's stony face told Ariana that this was not the moment to ask him about all the things she didn't understand.

His sea green eyes were full of intense emotion that she couldn't make out; his muscles tight; his face tense. He looked angry and scared, and yet still somehow thoughtful. Dangerous was the best word she could come up with to describe him. That raw energy she'd felt near him while they were in the throne room was still there, rippling and surging around his aura. It played with her emotions – made her want him more than she ever had before. Ideas that were just plain _stupid_ kept popping into her head. At least, she hoped it was his power that was making her feel this way… The idea that some other being was controlling her was seriously creepy.

At last, she plucked up the courage to say something. "Um, Percy… How are we getting back to camp?"

He stared at her like he'd forgotten who she was, his expression far away. "We're flying, of course."

Ariana raised her eyebrows and forced down the fear that had suddenly appeared in the pit of her stomach. "Right. Obviously. I mean, why didn't I see that in the first place?"

To her relief, he laughed. It sounded a little forced, but it was a laugh all the same. "Sorry. I just… I heard a lot of new stuff in there. What with the prophecy and Reyna at Jupiter and now you, I guess it's all getting a bit on top of me. We're flying back – much more fun than driving."

She nodded, but was more interested in the other things he'd said. "What's Rainer at Jupiter?" she asked.

His brow creased. "R-E-Y-N-A. She's the praetor of Camp Jupiter, the Roman camp for demigods. She's just a little… Well, Jason wanted to come visit and when he's gone, she has to take all the responsibility."

"And she had a go at you for it?" A sense of annoyance and protectiveness swept over Ariana.

"She may have lost her temper a bit." He grimaced, then saw Ariana's expression. "But she's not that bad, really," he rushed on. "Reyna's great. She just has an awful lot of weight on her shoulders. And we all lose our tempers once in a while…" Ariana hid a smile, unable to believe that Percy was defending someone who'd yelled at him – she'd never done that in her whole life.

"Anyway," she interrupted at last. "You said something about flying home?" It took a lot of effort to keep the tremor out of her voice on the word 'flying'. _Stupid fear of heights_, she thought – _surely I should enjoy high places if I'm related to Zeus?_

Percy grinned, put his fingers to his mouth, and whistled sharply. The sound rang in Ariana's ears, but nothing happened. She looked questioningly at him.

"Wait and see," he smiled.


End file.
